The Badger, the Maid, and the Nightstand
by l0stinl0ve
Summary: Draco and Hermione are Auror partners, and what they thought was a simple search and retrieval, has blown up to epic proportions. Now they have to deal with faulty portkeys, a weird Portugese man, and a matchmaking Lucius. Will they be able to save the world and not fall in love? I think not.
1. Rookies

This fic is for the _Buffy the Vampire Slayer Quote Challenge_ and the _Adventure Takes Precedence Competition_. I hope I did it some justice. I have the second chapter written, and being beta'd and will post it next week sometime. This is my first action/adventure so I'd be very very happy to hear what you think. =]

As always, thank you tygermine for being a lovely beta.

* * *

This wasn't a typical mission.

Initially, they thought it would just be your standard dark object retrieval, hence why it was just her and Malfoy that they sent. But as soon as they landed at the target location via Portkey, spells were flying in their direction.

She was on the floor, on her stomach, and she was pretty sure she saw some green in the plethora of colored spells being fired above her. She wasn't sure where Draco was, but she heard him shouting "Code AK47" and knew he was sending for back up.

If she wasn't in a life threatening situation, she would have laughed at the fact that the Auror Office called '_Avada Kedavra _has been casted' a Code AK47. She did chuckle a little as she rolled onto her back and jumped into the fray.

She was in the middle of casting a complex spell she had created towards the five thugs that jumped from the lake, when several Aurors popped into existence. Luckily they were prepared and started firing spells immediately.

Once the thugs realized they were now outnumbered, they _Disapparated_ in the blink of an eye.

Hermione was bent over, hands on knees, trying to catch her breath, when a hand fell onto her back.

"You ok?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, how about Malfoy?"

There was a chuckle several feet behind her so she turned around to look at the git. "Glad you care Granger, but yes, I'm good." He raised his right arm, "Just a little cut up."

Before she could have a go at her annoying partner, Ron quickly interrupted, "What happened?"

"Well, we were sent to retrieve something. And we received a Portkey that took us here, straight into the ambush." Hermione answered.

"And before you ask, we got the mission directly from Robards." Draco added.

Everyone was bewildered by that. Robards was the Head of the Auror office, so it didn't make sense that they would be ambushed.

"We should go report in." Hermione said.

* * *

"So you're saying you were ambushed when you arrived at the location?" Robards asked. He was sitting in his comfortable chair behind the desk littered with parchment. There were a few objects interspersed with the endless parchment, but the desk might as well have been made of parchment for the amount there was.

Hermione was trying to figure out why he needed all this parchment, some of it didn't even have anything written on it, when Malfoy answered their supervisor, "Yes, there were five men who were on the shore of the lake and as soon as we landed they started firing spells."

Robards nodded his head, and moved some of the parchment away from his desk. He was looking for a specific one when Hermione saw wood. All she thought was "Aha! There's the desk!"

She was pulled out of her musings when Robards found what he was looking for and responded, "That's interesting, because I'm pretty certain that, when I requested the Portkey from the Department of Magical Transportation," He handed Malfoy the parchment, "The object you were looking for was something once owned by Helga Hufflepuff. You should have been Portkeyed to Braga."

Hermione was wondering what the hell was in Braga when Malfoy walked out of the Head Auror's office. She shrugged at Robards and ran after him.

She was gasping "Malfoy...your legs...they're so long..." When she finally reached him at the lifts. When did he get that fast?

Apparently the situation was serious enough that Malfoy didn't deem it a good time to make fun of her slowness. When they stepped into the lift, she quickly schooled her face into her serious face and looked directly at Malfoy's calculating expression. "What's in Braga?"

"Other than the Broomfleet Quidditch team, I'm not even sure." He seemed to be pondering telling her more, so she glared at him, which seemed to do the trick. That was why their partnership worked, they could pick up on each other's nonverbal clues. It also helped that no one else in all the Auror office would work with them. Either of them.

"All right. I remember my father having to go to Portugal once. During _that_ time." That time, when said the way he did, meant during the Death Eater days. Hermione knew that it was a touchy subject, and to delve further could potentially cause a blow up. She decided that this could help to find out why they almost died that morning so she raised her eyebrow at him.

He rolled his eyes, "That's all I know. We'll go see him after we talk to the Portkey Office."

Hermione just nodded, hiding the shudder when she realized they would have to go see Lucius.

* * *

"Well, that was helpful." Hermione sighed sarcastically as she sat down in her cubicle.

Behind her Malfoy also sighed and rolled his chair so that it crossed the invisible line that separated their workspaces. Hermione eyed where the invisible line was supposed to be, willing it into existence, right under his chair, when Draco spoke up. "Shut up, the line isn't real, no matter how much you stare at it, and I want this to be hush-hush."

Hermione stopped looking where the invisible line should be, and quickly casted a _Muffliato_, causing Draco's cheeks to redden - redden as much as a Malfoy would allow that is, so they were a very light pink, the pink that goes into a girl's nursery - and rolled back into his cubicle.

"Okay, you're right. That was absolutely unhelpful."

"Maybe I should go without you. All she could do was stare at you."

"It's not my fault I'm beautiful. Kerra Moreno just has eyes she uses."

Hermione threw a scrunched up piece of parchment at his head. She knew he was beautiful. She didn't like him being told he was beautiful by buxom dark haired beauties.** She knew he was beautiful even when he was spewing hurtful words when they were in school. His personality however, made her want to punch him in the face. Even if he wasn't as bad as when they were in school, he still deserved a good punch every now and then. Be it a love tap or something harder.**

"Seriously though, all we learned from the visit was that the Portkey needs to be checked for tampering."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's check the lake and then we'll go see my father."

* * *

"Bloody hell."

"That was a rookie mistake."

"Well, we're technically still rookies."

"No we're not. I've fought in a war since I was eleven. You've lived on the other side your whole life. Where do you see Robards thinking us as rookies?"

"Fuck."

"Language!"

"So bloody is okay but fuck isn't allowed?"

"The situation warranted it. But now you're just cursing."

He rolled his eyes. "Let's go see my father first. I don't want to have to get told off and then see my father."

"Okay..." Hermione says apprehensively which stops Malfoy from side-along _Appariting_.

Malfoy turned to look her straight in the face. "Look. Granger, we're not going near that room. So you don't have to worry about that. Secondly, my Father has changed. Trust me."

Hermione isn't sure whether to believe him. Lucius Malfoy was one scary wizard on his off days. "How do you know?"

"Trust me. You'll understand when we see him."

She didn't think she could do that. But knew that she had to if they were going to get anywhere with this case.

She grabbed his arm.

* * *

"Are we in your bedroom?"

She looks around the new location. The bed is unmade and isn't the green she was expecting. Instead, it's a very deep shade of purple. She giggled.

"When school finished, I got rid of the green."

"So you chose plum?"

"Shut up. The catalogue said it was amethyst."

Hermione doesn't stop laughing, and it only gets harder when she sees the latest issue of _Play Wizard _on his night stand.

Malfoy sees where her eyes lay, and quickly jumps across the bed grabbing the magazine and throwing it under his bed.

"But I was going look at that." She fake pouts.

He gets up from the bed, grabs her arm and pulls her out of the room. "Just shut up. We're going to find my father."

That does shut her up. She even lets him continue to hold her arm. It gives her some peace of mind. She doesn't even notice the shivers.

"Remember, he isn't scary. Well, he is, but not in the way you think."

That didn't help her at all. Her other hand flies to the hand wrapped around her arm and she holds it tight - as if him letting go of her means she's going to her doom, which is exactly how she feels.

* * *

When they reach Lucius' study, Hermione is ready to turn tail and go back to the office. Screw Gryffindor tendencies, she really didn't feel like reliving the old days. She really didn't want to be called a Mudblood again.

Once Malfoy opened the doors though, she thought she should have left, but for completely different reasons.

"Ah son, so nice to see you. And who is this? Did you finally find a suitable fiancé?"

Malfoy just clears his throat and pulls Hermione from behind him. She expects Lucius to instantly glare, show teeth, yell, or something violent. That would have been better that what he did though.

He looks up and sees Hermione, smiles, and says, "Oh, Miss Granger. That's wonderful. I'll let your mother know to get started on the wedding plans." He then looks back down at his desk and begins to draft a letter.

Hermione was rather confused. What the hell just happened? So, according to Lucius, she was engaged to Draco and he was okay with that? Something was definitely off. She looked to Malfoy who only shrugged and mouthed, "Told you."

She scowled at him.

Malfoy turned back to his father to set him straight, at least she hoped. That was far more important than questions.

"Father, what can you tell me about Braga."

Hermione was going to punch him. Work could happen later. After his father no longer thought they were going to get married. She scowled even harder.

Malfoy ignored her and looked to his father for answers. Lucius didn't even flinch at the question. Hermione didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.

He simply looked up, sat back in his chair, and steepled his fingers. "Well, as you know, I had to go there once. I think it was during your sixth year, or was it seventh? It must've been seventh as I did not have my wand." Hermione was seriously wondering what was wrong with Malfoy Senior. He acted as if working for Lord Voldemort was like having afternoon tea. Just an everyday thing, nothing to worry over. "Your mother helped me get there. We had to meet with a Mr. Lobo."

Malfoy just nodded his head, trying to commit everything to memory.

Hermione, while keeping one part of her mind on the conversation - Who is Mr. Lobo? Why Braga? - was glaring daggers at Malfoy. Lucius still thought they were engaged, and it didn't look like that was going to change anytime soon.

"We were dropping off a bag for the Dark Lord. We couldn't open it, obviously, as it was cursed. We gave the bag to Mr. Lobo, who didn't look too happy receiving it. And then we left."

"That's all you remember?" Malfoy asked.

"Yes, nothing really happened or mattered then. As you well know, your mother and I were very afraid of what was to become of you. We did as we were told, did not ask questions, and merely survived." Lucius answers in an even tone, no anger, no sadness, just… nothing.

Hermione flinched at that, and decided to set him straight later, "Who is Mr. Lobo? What can you tell us about him?"

He looks back to her, "Welcome to the conversation Miss Granger," Oh lovely, now he's the Mr. Malfoy she remembers. "I was afraid that you weren't as intelligent as my son led me to believe. But I'm glad that the future mother of my grandchildren has a valid thought in her head." Hermione sputters. Yes, she needed to set him straight, right away in fact. Children indeed!

But before she could interrupt, he continued on, "Mr. Lobo was very subdued. He was very quiet, dark, and broody. Imagine a Portuguese Mr. Borke." He cocks his head and ponders, "I don't think either of you had the _dis_pleasure of meeting him. He was a lot worse than Mr. Burgin, let me tell you. May I offer the two of you something to drink?" He gets up from behind his desk and walks to the corner.

Before Hermione can say no, or even no I'm not going to marry your son, Malfoy shakes his head.

Lucius opens the liquor cabinet and begins pouring himself some of Ogden's Finest. "Alright, don't say I didn't offer when your mother asks if I behaved. Now, Mr. Lobo, I believe was related to Mr. Borke, distantly of course. Not sure how, but you could see it in their faces. Like I said, Mr. Lobo was just a darker version." He looks at both of them "I assume you are here for a case, yes?"

They both nod.

"I thought so. Then you should know this. Miss Granger, I'm fairly certain you are already aware of Mr. Borke's relation with the Dark Lord?"

Malfoy looks to her as she just nods, she doesn't see why this matters.

"Well, why would the Dark Lord send an object to someone related to his first employer?"

Wheels are turning in her head as she ponders the question. It's a good lead, she realises. Lucius, when not trying to be an intimidating Death Eater, would make a fine teacher, she muses. As she tries to hold in the giggle, Malfoy jumps up and quickly fires questions.

"It must have been a dark object. It would be safe to assume that regardless of where it went. But to go to someone related to Mr. Borke, maybe it needed identification? Or he wanted to get rid of it? Granger, start writing this stuff down. We need to figure this out."

Lucius hands her a quill and parchment and then reprimands his son, "Draco, you must treat your fiancé better than that."

Hermione drops the quill. He is _still_ on about that?

Malfoy picks up the quill and hands it back to her and finally, _finally_, sets his father straight. "We're not going to get married now or in the near future father. I've been telling you this for months."

Hermione drops the quill again. Now she's really confused. Her eyes widen and her mouth quickly forms an 'O'. What the fuck?

"Granger, seriously, stop thinking about it. We're supposed to be working a case."

Hermione's cheeks flush at the admonishment. She grabs the quill and writes down the questions he was asking. Right. The case. "Well, Mr. Borke was dead, as your father mentioned, but did his family also deal with Dark Objects? Where did you meet with Mr. Lobo? Was it only him? Or were there others?"

Lucius went back to his seat and smiled, yes smiled! "Good questions, both of you. I'm not certain what was in the bag or the purpose of giving it Mr. Lobo, so I can't help you Draco." He looks back to Hermione, and his smile turns brighter, "To answer your questions Miss Granger, I believe the Borke family, including extended, always delved into the Dark. We met with him in a back office. More than likely his. I believe he runs a store similar to that of Borgin & Burkes. It was just him."

Malfoy nods to his father and turns to leave, "Thank you father. If we have more questions, I'll let you know."

Hermione stands up and puts the quill back on Lucius' desk and also whispers "Thank you."

"I'm still telling your mother you found her." He shouts as they walk down the hallway.


	2. Danger

_Thank you to the positively lovely winterwood11 for the beta on this. I hope you guys enjoy and please review! I'd love to know what you think is going on, and what you think will happen next! Chapter three is almost done and I'll have it off to beta by Monday so by the end of next week we'll learn more! Woohoo!_

* * *

Hermione was a tad bit confused. She now understood what Malfoy meant by being afraid of Lucius Malfoy for a completely other reason. The thought of _him_ matchmaking was terrifying.

The two Aurors were sitting in their cubicle, avoiding Robards as if he were a Dementor, and trying to piece together what little they had of the puzzle. Hermione visualized what they had were the corner pieces and some of the perimeter; they just needed more pieces on the edge so that they could start filling in the middle.

"Okay, we should probably make a request for another Portkey so that we can go retrieve the object. That way we won't get into too much trouble." Malfoy said while tossing a snitch up and down in the air. He sprawled his legs out comfortably in their limited cubicle space.

Hermione didn't like how comfortable he was. "Oh? Trouble makes you scared all of sudden? Is Robards too dangerous now?" Hermione smirked as Malfoy straightened himself out in his chair. He leaned forward so he was right in her face staring directly into her eyes, and mock whispered, "Ha! I laugh in the face of danger! Then I hide until it goes away!" He pulled back and chuckled, "Seriously, Robards can be a right prick about things and rather annoying. I'm sure you rather avoid him too."

Hermione couldn't argue with that.

* * *

Hermione went to visit the Portkey Office by herself this time. She didn't have the time for ditsy distracted airheads fawning over her partner. She filled out the paperwork for the new Portkey to Braga and sat in the reception area waiting for it to be processed.

"All right everything checks out. I've submitted the paperwork, and it should only be a few minutes until your Portkey is ready for later this afternoon."

Hermione, who was twiddling her thumbs, responded "Thanks." She continued to eye the office and think about what they were going to do once they found the object. What was it? It had been a few years since Lucius has delivered it to Mr. Lobo; what made it so important to everyone _now_? Why had they been ambushed that morning? Did they not want them to find the object? Or did they want it for themselves? What about -

"Miss Granger, your Portkey is ready." Miss Moreno interrupted her thoughts, and handed her a tarnished goblet. "It's set to go off at ten this evening. I'm sorry we couldn't find an open slot that was earlier."

Hermione was a little upset about having to leave so late, but she probably wouldn't complain. Everyone knew the Portkey office was one of the worst offices in the whole of the Ministry of Magic.

"That's fine Miss Moreno. Thank you." She responded as she wrapped the goblet in a cloth and put it into her bag.

"No problem. And good luck in Braga." Miss Moreno added as Hermione left the office.

* * *

"Why did it have to be so late?"

"Because there were no other slots available for today, and you wanted to hide from Robards until we had this whole thing figured out." Hermione swatted his arm. "So stop complaining!"

Draco was too mature to stick his tongue out at her, so he did it mentally and acted like she said nothing. "Do you reckon we should go wands ready?"

Hermione had been pondering the same question ever since she had been given the Portkey. She wondered why Miss Moreno wished her luck. Did Miss Moreno know of their mission? Or did she just wish good luck to every wizard that came through her office? She didn't want to be completely unsuspicious of everything, but at the same time her gut was telling her that she should be more careful and pay close attention. "It wouldn't hurt."

Both wizards held their wands close to themselves and were in a crouching position when they grabbed hold of the now blue goblet.

* * *

"I think I hate Portkeys" Draco shouted while casting a _Deprimo _at the wall hiding their attackers.

Hermione didn't think she had ever agree with Malfoy more, "Seriously!" she shouted back as she got in position to cover his back. She casted a _Protego_, quickly following with a _Reducto, Stupefy, _and _Locomotor Mortis_.

She was about to renew the _Protego _when, Malfoy stepped closer to the missing wall and froze with a dazed look in his eyes.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Just perfect" she muttered. This was exactly what she needed, a decommissioned Malfoy in the middle of a fire fight.

She recast the protection spell on her partner and then threw some offensive spells at their attackers, pushing forward all the while.

When she reached her partner, she also froze. She quickly caught a glimpse of a young boy with the curliest blonde hair she had ever seen. But, before she could question it, he vanished.

She came out of her daze with the sounds of _Disapparation_ and noticed that Malfoy had come to as well.

* * *

By the time they made it through the hole Malfoy made, the attackers were gone. Mr. Lobo's office was in shambles, and Hermione wasn't in a good mood.

From the scowl on Malfoy's face, he didn't look too happy either.

* * *

"You have got to be kidding me." Malfoy shouted as he kicked the already broken desk.

Well, that answered Hermione's question. The attackers wanted the object. But what was it?

"Do you see Mr. Lobo anywhere? Or anyone for that matter?" She asked.

Malfoy stopped his tirade and started looking around the room, Moving debris as needed. There was no one in the office.

Once they exhausted the search in the office, they walked through the main door into the storefront. It too was in shambles. Items were broken, thrown onto the ground. Counters were split in two. Shards of shattered glass lay all over the floor.

The two were searching through the merchandise, cataloguing the items, when a quick shout from the front door startled them. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SHOP?"

The two Aurors jumped in surprise when they turned to look at a very irate, old man walking through the shop.

When the man caught sight of Malfoy, his anger fled from his face and immediately turned weary, "You're Lucius' boy aren't you? Why are you here?"

Hermione, realising that Malfoy would be the better person to do the talking, simply went back to cataloguing items, noticing most were barely even considered dark. If that was the case, it made more sense for Hufflepuff's trinket or whatever it was to be here. But at the same time, why would the Dark Lord send it here? And why were there people after it?

"I assume you're Mr. Lobo." The old man nodded, so Malfoy continued. "The item my father gave you. What was it? And do you see it here?"

"You mean this wreckage? How am I supposed to find anything?" Mr. Lobo replied, arms gesturing around the room. When all Malfoy did was nod, Mr. Lobo sighed, "It's gone."

Hermione simply looked at Mr. Lobo, wondering how he could possibly tell an item was gone, without looking to make sure. Granted, the place looked like it was broken into, and a small battled had ensued, but still. He should at least look, Hermione thought.

"I don't feel it's presence. It's aura, I've lived with it since your Lucius brought the horrid thing to me. It's gone. The aura, I don't see things anymore, I can breathe free again."

Hermione really _really_ didn't like the sound of that. She couldn't remember reading about any item that made you see things. Well, she did, sort of, but Mr. Lobo didn't make it sound like it was dark, just relieved for it to be gone.

She turned to look at Malfoy and gave him the look that said, do-you-know-what-he's-talking-about?

Malfoy returned the look with one asking, if-you-don't-what-makes-you-think-I-do?

Before Hermione could return the look, the staring match was interrupted by Mr. Lobo, "I had the item hidden. It was in a nightstand in my office, hidden behind a curtain, in the view of the portraits." He quickly walked back into his office, and a groan escaped his lips when he realised the state it was in - much worse than the storefront, it did have a hole to the outside now.

Hermione and Malfoy followed him and when they heard the groan, Malfoy had the decency to blush - as much as a Malfoy could, which wasn't very much.

"Oh _amor_, there you are." A beautiful woman who looked vaguely familiar called from a portrait on the only wall not decimated. She looked to be in distress, and Hermione wondered if she was the kind of woman who had knights in shining armour to come rescue her. She scoffed; Hermione hated women like that. She could rescue herself, thank you very much.

Malfoy gave her a side glance, the look that said I-know-what-you're-thinking-and-this-isn't-the-time-for-your-kind-of-crazy.

"_Querida_, what happened?"

"Oh _amor,_ it's terrible. I thought we trained her to be better than that. But no, we couldn't erase the evil taint on her soul."

The two Aurors were intrigued with this turn events. Hermione even thanked Merlin for their luck. She realised that it was a good idea to have a portrait overlook your belongings, and immediately made a note to do that when she returned home, whenever that would be.

Mr. Lobo, simply gasped, "No."

"Yes, and she's taken it. And who knows why! I told you it was a bad idea to let her know of its existence. But no, your sentimentality wouldn't let you think the worse in her." Hermione assumed the woman was an ex-lover, maybe an ex-wife. She wasn't sure, but she wouldn't interrupt to find out. They were getting some good information without even having to ask any questions.

Malfoy nodded to her, clearly happy with the situation as well.

"She doesn't even fully know what it is. She just knows that it was sent by _him._ Maybe she saw the visions as well. You mustn't think the worse in someone, _Querida._"

Visions? What visions? Hermione wondered.

The two started to bicker back and forth, in a mixture of English and Portugese, on the merits of forgiveness and when it was a good idea to see the worse in someone, when Malfoy cleared his throat. Hermione shuddered, reminded of Umbridge. She hated that action and tried really hard never to imitate the evil-toad-woman.

"Excuse me, but can we please return to what's important. Who is _she_, and what has she taken?"

Both Mr. Lobo and _Querida_ flushed at the reprimand. Mr. Lobo was first to answer, Hermione noted how he avoided the first question, "It was a small trinket, in the shape of a badger. I kept it in a locked drawer, in that nightstand in the corner. I figured no one would ever notice it. I even forgot it existed until..."

"Until that _Cadela_ asked about it. She was paid to clean, not ask questions!" The woman in the portrait interjected.

Malfoy snorted, and Hermione continued the interrogation this time, "Who is _Cadela_?" She tried to say it as she heard it, but it came out weird, and the portrait broke out in laughter.

Hermione thought she should get something for trying! She crossed her arms across her chest and pouted, just a little. She'd deny it come tomorrow, for sure, though.

"Granger, that's not her name." Malfoy whispered into her ear, "She's not laughing at how you said it, which _was_ funny." Hermione softly elbowed his gut to get him away from her, and Malfoy keeled over.

"I didn't do it that hard Malfoy!" Hermione stage-whispered. "Anyways, who is this woman you are talking about?"

"She was our maid; I hired her after my wife passed away. I couldn't be responsible to keep the store neat. It was bad for business." He sneered to his wife "And my wife made me hire her."

Hermione was happy with this progress. It was very helpful. She had committed everything to memory. So what if it was already one in the morning? They'd have to go back to their cubicle and put all the facts together and see if they could track down this woman- especially without fully understanding what the badger was.

"One question before we leave. We'll come back later to do a full interrogation." Malfoy said, Hermione nodding all the while. She was kind of sleepy, "What is her name?"

Both Mr. Lobo and his wife answered "Antuela Dino."


	3. Portrait

_Thank you to sneakyslytherin . severus for getting this to me._

* * *

"So let's go over what we know." Hermione was pacing the very small space inside their cubicle between their two desks. One step, two steps, three steps, four steps, turn around. One step, two steps, three steps, four steps, turn around. Were there really only four steps between her desk and his?

Malfoy simply rubbed the bridge of his nose, frustrated, "We've gone over it five bloody times Granger. Can we call it a night and get some sleep? It's already five in the morning. And Danger will be here in an hour, and I'd really like to avoid him until we have more on the case."

She just nodded, only half-listening, still pacing and going over the facts.

One, Lucius dropped off an object to Mr. Lobo, on the orders of Lord Voldemort.

Two, the object was a Badger.

Three, It made you see things...at least Mr. Lobo said he no longer saw things. Whatever that meant. Well, it meant a follow-up with him when they weren't tired.

Four, A girl named Antuela Dino was in the service of Mr. Lobo as his maid. She had asked about the object.

Five, She took the object. After battling it out with Malfoy and herself.

Hermione stopped pacing when she reached her side of the cubicle, sighed, and dejectedly fell into her chair. They really needed to go back and visit Mr. Lobo.

"Granger... bed. We'll see if we can just get Mr. Lobo to come here, because I really, really do not like Portkeys all of a sudden."

Hermione yawned and nodded. She could understand the aversion. She actually never really liked them to begin with, and this whole mission cemented the fact.

When Malfoy left the cubicle, Hermione grabbed a quill, jotting it into some ink to write the questions they needed to ask. Before she could touch parchment with it, she nodded off and fell asleep, cheek firmly placed against the desk.

* * *

Hermione woke up to boisterous laughing and yelling. Yelling that she very well recognized. She turned her head over to her other arm and tried to fall back asleep.

"You guys left the Portkey there?"

"Smooth move, Malfoy."

She groaned, knowing that her best friends were just asking for trouble, and the trouble would be heading her way any second. She buried her head further into her arms, and began to lightly snore.

"Granger, don't think that will work with me. The nitwits you call your friends are hassling me about something that was equally _your_ mistake."

Hermione wanted to give him kudos for knowing exactly which buttons to push, but she couldn't since he pushed the right button and it had her flying out of her chair with her wand at his throat.

"Don't you dare," she hissed, "insist that I was at fault for such a callous mistake. Or I'll tell Danger about the whole ordeal."

The threat clearly worked on Malfoy, and he shut up, even if her idiot friends were snickering outside their cubicle. She'd have to remember he really did not like dealing with Robards. It could be helpful in the future. Blackmail and all that rot. She mentally shook her head for the Slytherin thought. She was spending too much time with the git.

Hermione looked back to her desk and realized she fell asleep before she could write down any questions. She rubbed her eyes with her balled fists and quickly glared at her best friends. "And you two need to shut up and leave us alone. We have work to do, and I'm sure the both of you do as well. Or I can tell Robards to assign you a new case."

Ron bolted faster than if Aragog were chasing him. Harry just smiled and casually strolled off.

Hermione rolled her eyes. She had idiots for friends, but she would never say that aloud, especially in the presence of Malfoy.

When she turned back to her cubicle, she found Malfoy in a position similar to the one she was in before he pushed her buttons, and not in a good way! Not that she'd be inclined to let him push her buttons in the good way. No siree.

Before she could hit him for making her think such ridiculous thoughts, he quickly spoke through a yawn, "Did you sleep here?"

She still wanted to hit him, even more so now, because she was pretty sure he was mocking her for sleeping here. She could tell. So what if his head was on the table and hidden. She knew. He was _Malfoy_ after all.

"You know you have ink on your face, yeah?"

Oh, how she knew he was mocking her! She couldn't possibly have ink on her face, otherwise Harry would have told her. She quickly sat down at her desk and rummaged through her drawers looking for a mirror. When she found one, she grabbed it and raised her hand with a quick "Aha" type gesture, then looked behind her to make sure Malfoy didn't see.

He did, and he chuckled.

She glared at him and stuck her tongue out at him for good measure.

"Real mature," he muttered.

She looked into the mirror, and right there on her left cheek was an ink blotch. He hadn't lied, and her friends were traitors who wanted the world, or at least Malfoy, to make fun of her. Didn't they think it was bad enough she was partnered with him? So what if they were one of the most successful pair of Aurors, she still had to deal with the git. On a _daily_basis.

"Shut up." She grumbled.

* * *

"Why are we in your room again Malfoy?" Hermione was annoyed. And hungry. She hadn't really eaten anything since before the first failed portkey. She looked around the room once more, and snickered at the _amethyst_.

She then bent over howling when she noticed another _Play Wizard _on his night stand. This one looked even more promising though.

"Are there girls in your neighborhood waiting for sex with you?"

"31 Days of Sex: Your Personal Plan for a Whole Month of Up"

"Sex and Proza-Potion: The True Story"

"19 Surefire Ways to Spice Up Your Sex Talk"

Before she could comment, and ask if he actually read the articles- because come on, what man has _Play Wizard_ on their nightstand for the articles? - he had realized why she was laughing so hard and rolled over his bed to throw the magazine under it, yet again.

She only laughed harder.

Once she had her breathing under control, she sat down in one of the armchairs in front of the fireplace. "Why are we here again?" she asked, still a bit breathless.

"Robards. Have to stay where he can't find us. He'll only impede the case and annoy the hell out of me."

Hermione couldn't argue with that. She just wished they didn't have to be in his room. _Again_. With Lucius Malfoy prowling the halls. She shivered at the thought of his matchmaking ways.

"Okay, so I have parchment and a Quick-Quotes Quill." Malfoy sat at his desk which was situated in the opposite corner of the fireplace, facing the window, overlooking the grounds. "What questions were you dreaming of before nodding off?"

"We have two things we need to address. Who is Antuelo Dino?" Hermione replied as she paced the room. She counted her steps, there were twenty steps from the end of his bed to the fireplace on the opposite wall. She made a cursory glance around the room and was astonished at how big it was. Her flat could fit in his room. She wished she was a Malfoy.

Wait, no she didn't! She really needed to get her head in the case. She shook her head and continued with the questions they needed answered. "And what exactly is the importance of the Badger?"

Malfoy simply hummed in acknowledgement.

"We know Antuelo Dino worked for Mr. Lobo as his maid, we should get a description of her. Find out her interests and hobbies. Why would she be interested in the Badger?"

"Yeah, and we need to learn more about the Badger. What is its purpose? Why did she take it? What can it do? How did he know it was gone without even checking?"

This time Hermione hummed in pleasure. This is why they were partners. They actually worked well together. When they weren't bickering with each other. She kept him in line, and he kept up with her.

A voice harrumphed, in the Umbridge sort of way, and Hermione quickly reached for her wand and had it pointed in the direction of the sound. When she didn't find a toad-woman dressed in pink, she stood at ease, but still had her wand at the ready.

The voice harrumphed again, and Hermione looked up to find a man, who looked like he was barely older than Malfoy, with a softer face and shoulder length hair, staring down at her.

"Granger, meet my grandfather Abraxas. Grandfather, this is Granger."

"Pleasure to meet you Miss Granger, if you would please put your wand away."

Hermione didn't think it would be a good idea. This _was _the man who first joined Lord Voldemort and convinced Lucius to also join. She slipped it into her harness, but kept it loose, just in case. You just _never_ knew with these Malfoy men.

"Very smart of you Miss Granger to stay alert for all possibilities. I can see why Lucius is so insistent on you becoming my granddaughter-in-law, despite your unfortunate birth."

She drew her wand and had it directed at his throat. So what if he was a portrait and she couldn't do much. He didn't know that. If he had heard about her, she could probably bluff her way through this. In fact, it was exactly what she decided to do. "I would take that back and apologise before I practice this new spell I read."

Malfoy, the one who was her partner, laughed out loud. "A new spell you read. Really, Granger?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at her partner. He didn't know she was bluffing, and he more than likely thought the whole thing was true. She liked to read, so what? It was an advantage that she had every intention of exploiting just then. She mentally shuddered at another Slytherin thought went through her mind. After this case, she was going to ask Danger - Robards - for a vacation. She needed to get away from Malfoy if she was to retain her Gryffindor qualities.

"Yes, and it does this interesting thing. You see, we were trying to find a way to get Walburga to shut up over at Grimmauld. You know how annoying she can be. Well her portrait is stuck. But I found a way to make _her_ disappear. Would you like to test that Abraxas?" She sneered.

Abraxas gulped and muttered "I like her." He harrumphed once more, then spoke normally, "Yes, I am sorry for the slight I have made on your person. Old habits, you know. I'll try to refrain in the future."

Hermione nodded in acknowledgement, and her arm retreated, putting her wand away.

"Grandfather, you seemed to have wanted to say something before you were interrupted." Malfoy chuckled.

* * *

_What do you think Abraxas has to say? Next chapter will be up sometime next week._


End file.
